Officials in Los Angeles are struggling to contain the fallout stemming from the leaked audio of racist comments made by former city council president Nury Martinez that forced her to resign.

Cross-cultural coalitions have ruled Los Angeles politics for decades, helping elect both Black and Latino politicians to top leadership roles in the huge racially and ethnically diverse city. Nury Martinez, the first Latina elected president of the Los Angeles City Council, resigned from her leadership role last week, then from the council altogether, after a leaked recording surfaced of her making racist remarks and other coarse comments in discussion with other Hispanic leaders. Martinez said in the recorded conversation, first reported by the Los Angeles Times, that white Councilmember Mike Bonin handled his young Black son as if he were an “accessory,” and described the son as behaving “parece changuito," or like a monkey.